Silhouette Suit
by DelightfulChild
Summary: On a particularity uneventful morning, the Delightful Children from Down the Lane go searching for Father


If the Inner Sactum was a place that the Delightful Children from down the Lane were forbidden to go, then Father's room was definitely a second close contender.

Now it wasn't that they weren't allowed to go into their parental figures bedroom, it was just a happenstance that was rare to occur, so often would they go to see the shadow cloaked man in his personal office to report back on all that he needed to hear, robot schematics, birthday plans, the ever anxiety inducing utter failure against the Kids Next Dumb.

So when they meandered into his office one afternoon and discovered that the man was not behind his desk, the hive minded quintet was baffled, to say the least. The prim and proper five scoured the entire house, climbing stairs, risking a slightly louder than inside voice to call out his name (and wincing shortly thereafter as it echoed, good children used inside voices, after all) But for all their shouting, the looming villain was nowhere to be found. Their trek had eventually lead them to the mans doorway, gathering their nerves. Surely there were places to check that they had forgotten? Maybe they could stop by the kitchen again, no stone unturned, and yet, their lead feet refused to move from the archway, a short whine eking from multiple lips at their own internal stubbornness. If Father wasn't anywhere else in the mansion, and he hadn't informed them that he would be down in his Inner Sanctum, as he always did, the checking his room was the next logical step.

Yes, they weighed the pros and cons, and gave an affirmative round of nods, resisting the urge to pat themselves upon their own shoulders at their own logic, and Bruce reached towards the handle, the brass knob chilled against his pale digits, and after what seemed like an entirety, the door was opened, pushing inward to allow the five children passage inside, and with one last drop of hesitance, they filtered into the dark bedroom.

Lenny felt around for a light switch as the rest of the quintet stood stock still, eyes flickering up to try and make out their sibling in the dark as he ran a palm along the wall, and with a soft click, pale yellow light flooded the room, forcing the group to blink rapidly, adjusting to the sudden illumination. The room was the same master bedroom it always was, its color scheme made up of deep chestnut dressers and a canopy bed, the carpet the same crimson weave that lined the hallways, the room led into a spacious bedroom, which they checked off after peeking over and seeing it open and dark as the bedroom had been, feeling their shoulders sag as fright drained out at seeing that Father wasn't in his bedroom either, the room devoid of all life save for themselves.

The children padded around the room, feeling a sudden urge to peek under the bed, which they shoved away, as it would be ridiculous, he wouldn't be hiding under the bed, what a foolish notion. They gave off a combined chorus of tongue clicks, as if tssking themselves, rounding the dark dresser, and pausing at the bedside, drawing out a disappointed sigh as their search continued to lead them down dead ends, they made to move back towards the door, when a splash of pure black flashed in the corner of their eyes.

With a movement like a cannon, they whipped back around the stare down at the bed, steadying their sudden rapid breaths as they were greeted with the sight of one of Father's silhouette suits splayed out on his bed covers, golden comforters with matching pillow cases. It was a strange sight, seeing the cloak of darkness without an owner, Father certainly had one on right now, but the wear and literal tear of evil often required back up suits, which he kept stored in his closet at his leisure.

The quintet felt accursed curiosity welling up in them once more, small frowns tracing their lips as they morphed the wonder into a calculated reasoning. Surely Father would want this suit back in his closet, and like the good children they were, it only seemed right to put it back in its place to spare him the trouble, didn't it?

Nodding affirmatively at their own gesture of soon to be preformed good will, Ashley knelt down as smiles surfaced on five lips, eyes fluttering shut for a moment as the bow sporting one of the group leaned over, fingers twining against the suit, digging into the material in preparation to scoop it off the bed. Immediately though, the group was ripped from their reverie at the translated material of just what touching the suit felt like, even Ashley seemed doubly concerned, flickering a hesitant gaze to her siblings as she lifted the suit into the air, holding it aloft.

It was warm to the touch, and felt like dipping a hand into a vat of some sort of pliable sludge that hummed with an underlying life, holding the suit felt...unnerving, hot flashes abruptly raked up the deviants arms, like the grip of a bad premonition that sunk its claws it and pulled this way and that, it startled them so badly, that the blonde haired girl went to drop it back upon the bed with a shake of her hands, only to have a vice grip wrap around five hearts at once, breathing quickened at what they were witnessing. The suit was melding with Ashley's finger tips, suctioning onto her digits like it were a roiling tide of black water, beginning to make its slow trek over her palm, even giving off a spine shakingly ' **sclupp** ' noise at it began to expand, reminding the five of some distant modeling compound.

Their hive mind went berserk, five mental voices screaming into it congealed into a single, sharp, wild din of collective shout that was a simple:

" _GET IT OFF!"_

Immediately the remaining Delighfuls sprang into motion, Ashley frantically shaking her hand like it were a rabid animal chewing on her fingers, which they felt would likely be easier to deal with than Father's silhouette suit suctioning onto their dear sisters hands, her face frozen in a grip of fear as they laid their hands on hers, digging pale digits into the fleshy material, shuddering and shaking as they attempted to pry it loose, David even digging his shoes into the carpet to try and gain a foothold as they all pulled .

But for all their frantic pulling, it was of no use, and a slow chorus of rising whimpers, and pin prick pale blue pupils at another revelation, the suit had stretched like some sort of sadistic gum chain, leaking over all 10 of their hands, forming a chain of black, viscous goop, like the suit had turned into a liquid as it continued to climb, now almost eagerly, up their wrists. Tidy sailor suits and blazers were soon consumed from white and navy blue, with the deep black that compromised Father's suit, a twinge of gold beginning to slide along the wave of black, settling around the edges like an outline. In one last ditch effort to remove the thing, the group of children toppled to the floor, raking their shoes like caged animals against their own hands, kicking and gasping and pinwheeling their legs like overturned beetles, before exhaustion crept into their small frames, panting and out of breath, and still the wave of pure, concentrated evil continued to spread like a virus along them.

Fear gave way to panic, then to desperation, and now a slow lethargy began to flood their arms and legs, a shared grimace flooded through the five children, blackened digits raking along the crimson carpet as they tried to fight off the sudden feeling of drowsiness that had overtaken them, but with each flick of the wrist, the feeling only worsened, a small searing sensation raking up their arms like little needles, causing the group to gasp out in pain, dropping their arms back down, shivering against the carpet, and as if on a reaction to their submission, a heavy warmth flooded their arms, as if the roiling surge of black were soothing them, praising them for staying still, and while the feeling continued, so did the encroaching suit, like a heavy smear, it made its way along their shoulders, spreading down like a thick paint brush sweeping haphazardly in only one direction, and with their struggles ceased, it showed no sign of stopping. Another soft noise of discomfort leaked from the villainous youngsters lips, the strange surge of warmth akin to being pressed in a heavy comforter, now felt more like being nestled before fire, and a sudden weight over came their eyelids, like they were being weighed down after a long day of toiling over robots, but it was only late morning, they couldn't sleep yet!

And yet, it seemed so enticing to just, give in, their feet now numbly tingled, and even if they couldn't look further than their stomachs, it was likely that the suit had spread there too, weakened frowns tugged at the quintets lips, hive mind a slurry of anxiety, they would likely be punished for touching one of Father's silhouette suits, much less getting one adhered to themselves, they wondered with a brief flash of fear what would happen once it reached their faces. Would they suffocate, be overcome with uncontrollable power that would consume them indefinitely? Their frightened train of thought quickened their previously slowed breathing, and like a scolding parent, the suit sent that needling feeling against their throats, as if telling them to quit their fussing, which stopped their thoughts dead in their tracks, pressing their faces down in the carpet, the texture tickling their noses for a moment, and the light of the room was extinguished, face down, as if accepting their fate. Like a greedy creature, the suit obliged, leaking up over the back of the groups scalps, it surged on, coming down in an arch over their faces, five small bodies consumed completely, the tide at last, falling still.

The quintet shot up like they had been poked with a cattle prod, as if waking from a nightmare, and found the whole room before them seemed sharper, tinged around the edges with gold, and they sucked in air in mighty lung fulls, heads whipping about, wondering for a moment if the entire horrifying experience had been nothing more than a bad dream as they stared down, almost choking on air alone at what they saw. Their once spiffy uniforms had been replaced with a cloak of deep, almost void like black, the edges of their bodies rimmed with an almost pulsating line of gold that zipped up their sides, down their legs and along their shoes, and up their wrists. With a morbid curiosity, they slowly flexed their entirely blackened digits, curling small fingers in and out from their palms, edged with more golden iridescence, breathing out a quiet affirmation.

"Oh..."

The desire to panic no longer dwelt within them, strangely enough, now aware of constant warmth that seemed to hum through them, as if liquid warmth now filled their veins, and odder still, they were filled with the desire to laugh, chortle, chuckle, giggle. They settled on the last, continuing to flex their fingers in wonder as their lips parted, giggles building in their throats, at the absurdity of it all, or the warmth that roiled in their guts, they were uncertain, but they still laughed, rocking backwards and toppling over in a heap of black and gold accentuated limbs, laughter flooding the room, expelling the mirthful noise until their insides burned with a differing heat, and they gasped for air, tears leaking out of the corners of their eyes, and shot back into a sitting position as a sizzling sound occurred, like steam from a boiling pot, tracing their fingers against the edges of their eyes, watching the moisture prickled on the end of their digits curl away into tendrils of steam, fascination flooding them once again. Standing proved to be difficult for a moment or two, but helping themselves up, they managed it, slowly rounding on the mirror that they knew rested in the corner of the room, and almost scrambled away from their own reflections. Before the pane of glass stood a cluster of carbon copies of their own beloved parent, in their own image, right down to the wide, more oval eyes, a deep void of gold, lacking pupils, they felt a spike of panic, but it too was shushed by a smothering hand of warmth, like a hug from within, reassuring them that everything was perfectly fine, that they needn't get upset, and being the good children that they were, they listened, limbs going lax as they stared on.

An inkling of thought perused their hive mind, that they should go see Father, and bid him to remove this suit from them, surely he knew how? Again the surge of warmth came, like a guiding like branching over their hive mind, insisting that they try. Try? Try what, exactly? The warmth prodded deeper, like a hand pushing them forward to an objective, and a single word flooded up to the forefront of their hive mind, feeling silly for not even considering it yet.

Fire

Could they create it now? Now that they wore this suit, they certainly could, and the warmth coaxed, feeling a ghost of a sensation akin to being patted upon the head briefly flood through them, and they grinned, even if their reflections did not show that they were, they knew they were, and that would suffice for now. They concentrated within, now searching out the helpful warmth again, which rushed to meet them, as if pleased that they had sought it out, and all at once, the warmth became a cascade, like an angry volcano set to erupt, and the warmth drove them to clench their eyes shut, fearing in a burst of uncalmed panic that they would melt from the inside out, gasping wildly, but then, the sensation of being cooked alive didn't come, and the warmth seemed to push them to reopen their eyes, they obliged, and nearly staggered back, a bonfire of a blaze licking over them, five little fires coalescing into a mighty blaze of yellow, red, and orange, and the urge to laugh again returned as they shifted between lifting up flame covered feet, stretching fiery hands, and spinning around in a circle, admiring the embers that did not leave them, they did not wish for them to spread, they kept them close, they were consumed with the blaze, and it was almost euphoric, like they had secured their cake five times in a row, or built one of their best robots to date, almost giddy with a glee that was downright malicious in nature, a thick slurry of devious thoughts flooded them, the warmth covering them like a cloak, ever spreading to farthest reaches over their hive mind, sinking deeper still. But first...

They would show Father, he would certainly be pleased.


End file.
